News Archive

Vermont Agency of Agriculture Food & Markets The first round of Working Lands Enterprise Initiative applications for fiscal year (FY) 2023 is launching!

Being a dairy farmer in Vermont is not an easy life. The work is hard, the hours are long, and cows don't take weekends off. It's a seven day a week operation.

For Vermont farmers, milking cows is not only a source of income. It's a way of life. It's a love of the land. It's an attachment to a farm that, in many cases, has been handed down…

The Vermont Department of Forests, Parks, and Recreation (FPR) is set to launch an initiative to develop a Forest Future Strategic Roadmap to identify actionable strategies to strengthen, modernize, promote, and protect Vermont’s forest products sector and the broader forest economy.

Vermont Business Magazine Round-Up of Food System News this month

Governor Phil Scott and the Vermont Legislature committed $5.2 million dollars to the Working Lands Enterprise Initiative program this fiscal year, facilitating grants to 59 Vermont businesses. This marks the most significant investment in the 10 years of the program, with a total investment of over 12 million since 2012. Today’s gathering…

The Farm Agronomic Practices (FAP) Program utilizes state funding to help Vermont farms implement soil-based agronomic practices that improve soil quality, increase crop production, and reduce erosion and agricultural waste discharges. The FAP program also provides education and instructional activity grants to support outreach regarding the…

Each year, the people who study such things inform us that our state's dairy farms, so emblematic of what makes Vermont, Vermont, continue to dwindle in number. According to the state's Agency for Farms, Food and Markets, Vermont had 973 cow dairy farms in 2012. Five years later, there were 796 — 18% fewer. By the first quarter of this year, the…

The Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets (VAAFM) has announced that applications for the Farm Agronomic Practice (FAP) Program(link is external) are now open. The FAP Program utilizes state funding to help Vermont farms implement field agronomic practices that improve soil quality, increase crop production, and reduce erosion and…

The Working Lands program awarded $3.1 million in grants that will help grow agriculture and small businesses in Vermont with new Supply Chain and Market Level Impact specific grants to leverage supply chain partnerships at a significant scale of up to $250K per award.

Will Raap, has a new project, a reboot of Nordic Farm, the high-profile, hilltop former dairy on Route 7 in Charlotte. His ambitious goal for this venture: nothing less than demonstrating a new path forward for Vermont agriculture.

Vermont Agency of Agriculture Food & Markets Farm First, the State’s resource for providing farmers and their families support, information, and resources to reduce stress, is expanding its services to include stress reduction training for agriculture service providers and a Farmer Peer Network.

Watch this brief, but good video, about conservation from the Land Trust Alliance produced for Earth Month, and throughout the year, let's make sure that everyone has access to natural, beautiful, open spaces. Because when communities come together to support land trusts, their local actions have global impact. That’s the power of land trusts.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Land Trust is accepting applications for the 2022 Eric Rozendaal Memorial Award to recognize business innovation, environmental practices, and giving back. The $5,000 award is intended for land stewardship, innovation, and service to community.

Vermont Agency of Agriculture Food & Markets UVM Extension Agricultural Business engages with farm, forest and maple enterprises using planning and educational resources to promote a strong agricultural economy.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Technical College partnered with Earthwise Global Inc., a Northfield, Vt.-based AgriTech company, on a 6-week preliminary feasibility study that evaluated the use of a nanobubble technology to grow hydroponic crops more efficiently and abundantly.

Spring is here in Vermont, meaning farmers markets will soon begin again. Most of the markets in the state begin in the mid-spring or early summer and last until autumn. Some markets, like those in Middlebury and Montpelier, have been holding weekly events throughout the winter and will continue to do so through most of April.

Most spring and…

On Tuesday, 30 food and agriculture groups released the sixth annual Feeding the Economy report, a historic farm-to-fork economic analysis revealing how these sectors influence the local and broader United States economies. Two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s study highlights how the industries remained resilient to provide Americans…

The Charlotte Land Trust this week released a study it commissioned to better understand the agricultural landscape in town and identify roles conservation can play in the future of farming here. Here's a summary.

The Charlotte Land Trust Agricultural Farm Study is complete. We will be presenting it, with the Charlotte Grange, on Zoom on Wednesday, March 23, at 1:00. No reservation is needed, admission if fee. We hope to see you there!

As with many societal challenges we have all faced in the past two years, the pandemic uncovered vulnerabilities in Vermont’s food system, while at the same time highlighting our capabilities and strengths. In response, Governor Scott appointed a Commission on the Future of Vermont Agriculture to grow our food economy. Take a look at their…

When the pandemic arrived on our doorstep, life changed profoundly. Our daily routine was disrupted, from home to school, office to farm. Over the next few weeks, the Vermont Legislature will consider major issues effecting agriculture in Vermont. At the same time, a landslide of federal funding has created once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to…

The Working Lands program announces historic funding for those who make their living off the land. The Program has awarded $2.1 in grants that will help grow agriculture and small businesses in Vermont.

In 2021 Vermont River Conservancy (VRC) took on new and larger projects to improve wildlife habitat, keep communities safe, and to ensure people will always have access to rivers for swimming, paddling, and fishing.

In 2021 Vermont River Conservancy (VRC) took on new and larger projects to improve wildlife habitat, keep communities safe, and to ensure people will always have access to rivers for swimming, paddling, and fishing.

Read about the transition of the Nichols Fodder Farm to the new Green Mountain Hay and the hard work, friendship, and trust between David Nichols and Nick Powden that has made it work.

One of the most ambitious endeavors in Vermont agriculture, the redevelopment of the iconic Nordic Farms on Route 7 in Charlotte, took several defining steps forward this week.

Vermont Business Magazine, Stonyfield Organic, and Cabot are joining forces alongside the Farm Powered Strategic Alliance (FPSA) and Dairy Farmers of America to place dairy as a leader in forging a circular pathway to decarbonization and climate change mitigation.

Vermont Business Magazine The High Meadows Fund, the Vermont Community Foundation, and the Vermont Land Trust today announced a $6 million leadership gift to diversify farm ownership, accelerate the economic viability of farming, and advance natural climate solutions and ecological health on Vermont farms.

At their Sept. 13, meeting the town of Charlotte’s Selectboard approved the application from the Charlotte Land Trust and the Vermont Land Trust for an expenditure of $50,000 from the Charlotte Conservation Fund to be applied to the funding for the conservation easement acquisition price of a 59-acre parcel of farmland in South East Charlotte.

Vermont Housing & Conservation Board committed $1,694,200 in state funding and $842,000 in federal funds to protect agricultural and recreational land, forestland, and natural areas.

Food and Markets 2020 was a year of turbulence, uncertainty and change, with many important societal issues highlighted by the coronavirus pandemic. The Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets has been deeply involved in many of these issues read more about what they have been doing.

Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) Tuesday visited the Huntington Community Forest to coincide with the release of a special report, "Community Forests: A Path to Prosperity and Connection(link is external)” by the Trust for Public Land. The property, immediately adjacent to the Brewster-Pierce Memorial School, is one of many forests in Vermont and…

For more than three decades, Gustave “Gus” Seelig has quietly had a hand in more than a billion dollars’ worth of socially responsible Vermont development projects, including the conservation of affordable housing complexes, the preservation of historic buildings and the biggest land conservation project of the last century.

Today, in the wake…

Charlotte’s Nordic Farm is set to realize the future of Vermont agriculture as a multifaceted working landscape. Nordic Farm is focusing on finding new ways for sustainable agriculture to continue on its lands — proven to be vital for both local communities and the natural environment.

Will Raap, the founder of Gardener’s Supply and the Intervale Center, in collaboration with partners, plans to purchase and turn Nordic Farms into a Grain-Based Ag Hub, that showcases Vermont grains, botanicals and beverages on a working farm that produces these goods

Vermont Business Magazine - The USDA is now accepting applications for three different grants that support the development, coordination and expansion of direct producer-to-consumer marketing, local and regional food markets and enterprises and value-added agricultural products. Over $93.5 million dollars is available in total.

Vermont Business Magazine - Vermont State Auditor Doug Hoffer today released a first-ever comprehensive accounting of Vermont state government’s total annual spending in support of Vermont’s dairy industry. From State fiscal year 2010 to 2019

Check out Vermont Land Trust's latest news of recent successes and upcoming events on birding, gardening, and estate planning, and more!

Vermont Business Magazine #Farm24VT, a a social media celebration of agriculture, food, and dairy in Vermont, is set for May 12 at 5:00 a.m. and will run for a full twenty-four hours.

The latest Charlotte Land Trust Annual Report is now available.